Alone is not lonely

Traveling alone does not mean you're lonely or afraid. It means you enjoy your own company, making independent decisions, and meeting new people. There are ways to be social while traveling solo, such as joining international organizations like Internations.org or meetup.com. You can also connect with people through Facebook groups or websites that align with your interests. Don't be afraid to travel alone and enjoy the experience. Aren't you lonely traveling alone on your own with no one else? Aren't you afraid? I hear these questions so often that they feel like they should be recorded. And the answer is, I am not lonely and I am not afraid. And neither should anyone else who is traveling solo. Traveling alone does not mean you are a lonely person who couldn't find someone else to come along. People who travel solo like their own company, they like the independence of making uncompromised decisions, they enjoy the adventure, and they do enjoy meeting new people. It can be wonderful spending time with yourself. It can also be invigorating to be able to make your own decisions and handle situations that arise. So these are all positive things in traveling solo. It does not mean you're lonely. It means you're solo. But traveling solo does not necessarily mean you don't want to be with other people. When it's time to be social, there are many ways to make connections and do that. So I use several resources to make connections during my travel. Internations.org is an international organization that operates mostly out of the bigger cities. So not so much the small towns, but most cities in the world have a chapter of Internations.org. You can join for free or you can pay a small monthly fee to be able to contact members individually. But I typically just join it for free. It offers a wide variety of different interest groups such as dinner groups, nature groups, culture, photography, and whoever runs each of those groups creates at least a once a month event. And people who are in that group are invited to the event. Most of them are free and there are a chance to meet people from so many different cultures and lots of different cultures with the same interests. So I love looking for Internations.org when I get to a new place. Another one that's very similar is called meetup.com. That's an interest group that has, it's a membership group like Internations.org, it's also free. And it's offered in many cities around the world and in fact sometimes in smaller towns than Internations.org has chapters. So like Internations, it has a variety of groups of lots of different interests. Again, photography, nature, yoga, even technical kinds of groups. So any kinds of groups that look like they are of interest to you, then you just sign up for those. And again, the people who are running them will put out events, they invite people, you're free to go. Again, I've met so many fun people through meetup.com. Another thing that I will often do is I'll go on Facebook, but I'll look for the expat or visitor groups in the local area where I'm going. So I'll put a post on those, I join them, they're usually public groups. So I join one of the expat or visitor Facebook groups and then I'll introduce myself in a post and say, you know, I'm coming or I'm here, these are my interests, I'd love to get together with other people in the area. And I've met some great people doing that, some of whom have become good friends in this way. And then I also will go on Facebook or a website or Instagram groups that follow my interests. So for me as a dancer, I look for dance studios in the area as well as the Facebook and Instagram dance groups. If your interest is yoga, if your interest is photography, whatever it might be, find those. And you can hook up with people there and get to know some amazing people who are very social and from lots of different places. So these are kind of the primary things that I'll typically use. So I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those, I'll put a post on those and there is no reason to feel afraid. Get out there and travel on your own and enjoy.